GIGABYTE MD60-SC0 (Intel C612) Server Motherboard Review

Introduction

We are starting to receive GIGABYTE server motherboards that support Haswell-EP E5-2600 v3 processors and DDR4 memory. Today we have our first sample, a storage centric board sporting dual CPUs and a large number of storage options.

Besides the usual performance gains of moving to a Haswell-EP platform, GIGABYTE has added some of its own improvements to its board designs. The improvements GIGABYTE has made include an all IR power design that uses IRPowlRstage IC controllers, OS-CON capacitors for long life, and high-end ferrite core chokes for stable power delivery.

There is also an interesting Easy BIOS update capability that allows you to flash the BIOS without utilities, CPUs installed, or even memory and power. This update can even be done over your IPMI interface, and allows multiple board updates simultaneously with a simple command line.

GIGABYTE has also updated its IPMI web interface to 2.0, which adds even more remote access features. Now, let's check out the new GIGABYTE MD60-SC0 server motherboard.

Packaging

Here we see the front of the retail box for the MD60-SC0. This is just like several other boxes we have seen from GIGABYTE, and the only marking that indicates what motherboard is inside is a white sticker on the side. The box itself has nice, clean graphics that can be used for many different types of motherboards; this helps to lower production costs, which is great.

Just like we saw on the front of the box, here we see the same generic design on the back that we have seen with several GIGABYTE products.

The insides are rather simple; there is foam padding to protect the motherboard on all sides and the motherboard is wrapped in anti-static bag for additional protection.

After removing the motherboard and foam inserts, we found a cardboard insert holding the accessories. Our sample board came with a few extra accessories that you would not normally get with this kit. These are the accessories listed on the GIGABYTE website:

• 1 x Driver CD
• 1 x I/O shield
• 1 x User manual
• 2 x SATA III 6Gb/s cables